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Thursday, March 03, 2011

The Goddesses Cult Polyamory and Charlie Sheen

By James Curcio
It should be of little surprise to anyone that the jealousy surrounding Charlie Sheen's two goddesses in their "unconventional home life" stems more from the public than from within. And if there is jealousy within their lives, it isn't any of our damn business. This is all part of the looking glass of voyeurism that obsesses American pop culture. We use finger wagging and judgement as a means of getting off. I get an image of a Priest scolding teenage girls for wearing too-short skirts and masturbating later behind the pews. But maybe that's because I've been up all night and have decided that my brain is not of terrestrial origin.

Listen: this is how it works. The oldest saying in PR is "all PR is good PR." And there are times it is proven wrong, like all "truisms," and indeed all truths, it is contextual. But it is being demonstrated true right now. You can't turn on a goddamn TV, or twitter feed - whomever you are following - or facebook page, and not find discussion about Charlie Sheen and Winning and all the pull quotes which I assumed would have a shelf-life that would expire 12 midnight last night, but it's still going strong now. Which means one thing: crazy motherfucker, the guy is winning. So you like, you can pull a few factoids from this phenomenon about how this machine works, such as that the success of his show might have as much to do with his being a "rock star from mars" (translation: living the lifestyle many Americans privately wish they could, and publicly want to tear down) as any sort of creative content. OK, that's a fucking given. Look at this page and tell me who is "winning."

Just Smoke And Illusion, Kids.

Let me get back to the point. The point, thank the Gods, has very little to do with Charlie Sheen. Or even the puppeteers of pop culture which dangles the carrot with one hand and wields not a stick but a bloody steak knife in the other. It is that pop culture itself seems to take a view that absolutely everything is weird or outlandish. How common has it been throughout history for a man, especially a successful ones by the standard of the culture, to have more than one wife? (Very. We can talk about the "Patriarchal" and "Heteronormative" overtones another day, ok? And this post isn't about Charlie Sheen, the man. God. I'm sure most polyamorous people feel they've dodged a bullet that the news media hasn't picked this up. All it takes is a few keywords to associate with one another... and suddenly he's the posterboy.)

It is only through a complete lack of contact with other cultures and with history itself that mainstream American pop culture has any sway over the populace. It makes us look at one another askance, it makes us all try to normalize ourselves, it makes us insecure, and yet it doesn't make us do anything. No. If we do any of these things it is we who are doing it. The only mechanism of brainwashing is the veil of ignorance.

Let's suppose that there really is an open and free, communicative dynamic between this group. I could give a fuck. But let's suppose. Then the term they should be dropping in all their stories is polyamory. But they're not. (I'd be even happier if major news outlets started using my concocted postmodernogamy but I don't expect that in a million years.) And if it isn't that, then it's just polygany, or an unmarried version of it, which is an ancient Greek word. We don't need to put a date on it, the point is, there's nothing weird about it. The way we do things is far more weird. The modern idea of romantic love itself derives from the Troubadour tradition of the 13th century, if we're to believe Joseph Campbell's scholarship on the matter, and his work on Love and the Goddess details not only this but also the various elements of the Goddess tradition and how it has been all but erased from Western spirituality. Though it forces itself through time and again, because you simply cannot have spiritual thought without a Goddess any more than you can have humanity without a Mother.

How We Roll

I realize that most of this isn't news to the types who would frequent this site on a regular basis. But it still drives me nuts when these kind of tactics are successful when a simple Google search could dispel anyone's illusion about there being anything unusual about his love life. Again, it is a matter of the distorted mirror of fame. I lived with two lovers, and lived with my ex-wife and a lover, and so on. I guess to some it made me "that weird poly guy" but it certainly wasn't a news story. And there are tens of thousands of other people who openly identify as polyamorous, and there would probably be plenty of polygamy as well if it was legalized.

So you know. Get over it guys. The sooner people stop buying into such simple tricks, the sooner maybe we can infuse some more interesting themes into this shithole of a culture.

Finally, way to "win," Mr Charlie Sheen. For today, at least. The plebs are forever thirsty for blood, but you'e dodged the bullet for now, by making it all a joke. And if you ever decide to rethink this sobriety thing, maybe after you get your 3 mil an episode, fuck it man. I'll go to Mars with you. Give Robert Downey Jr a call, maybe he'll kick in. We can ride around on tricycles pulled by Thai prostitutes and have midges with plates of cocaine strapped to their heads. (If that story about you waving around a knife is true, let's cut that out, huh?)

I'm a poly woman living a very healthy, stable, sex-positive life! Your photo of the blond/brunette/redhead mimics the Trifecta I'll be part of next week at our art party - I'm a blond who will be modeling nude with a brunette and redhead. The brunette is my girlfriend in real life. We are all poly and vibrant! We also love being sluts and goddesses!

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Modern Mythology is the group blog of Mythos Media, a transmedia production group. An open nexus for creation, discussion and analysis, on the part of people who are actively engaged in modern myths. Much of what you'll find here are works-in-progress, like the starts and stops of an ongoing conversation.

Present and past contributors have been engaged in a wide range of work outside of this project: we are film-makers, published authors, professors, we are doing advanced linguistic analysis for behavioral software, we work for ad agencies, play in bands. There are no borders anymore.